Magnetic Baby
by Sultan Peppershaker
Summary: Liebe ist für alle da.
1. Synchronicity

A man wielding a heavy ax plodded through the abandoned warehouse. The young teen girl hid in a closet that didn't fully shut. A thin strip of light shown on her fearful eye as she watched the crazed murderer with bated breath.

"You 'n yer _friends _can't hide no more!" he shouted. "You're all DEAD!"

The blonde teen's lip trembled. The psycho started limping towards the storage closet where she hid. His hands slowly grabbed the door handle...

"I can't watch! Tell me when this part's over!"

_A young man not yet in his twenties stepped out the door, looking around at his surroundings. He hadn't been in this part of town in a long time. It hadn't changed much, save the fact that a few of the small-town businesses now had blank storefronts: a sign of the hard economic times. _

_He glanced around the street, trying to remember which way he needed to head._

The blonde teen had thrown a handful of small screws at the man's face and kicked him in the shin in an effort to confuse him. She used the split second the distraction bought her to dart of the closet and run into another dark room.

"Why do they always pick the abandoned warehouse? Why not run into a great big office building? Or the police station?"

"Is he dead yet?" A set of hands still covered fearful eyes.

"Not yet..."

_It was becoming more familiar with each passing building. Memories not so far off flooded back in a torrent. _

A loud gunshot went off. A collective scream sounded in the living room as they jumped into each other's arms, then drew apart, slightly embarrassed.

_He had only spent roughly two years of his life on the street, but he felt so much more familiar with it than any two years' acquaintance could possibly allow. The houses, the fences, the trees, the cars; everything about it oozed charm like a volcanic fissure. Some faces he even recognized, harkening back to a simpler time, a more innocent time he longed to return to._

They looked at each other and grinned. They suddenly sprang to their feet, the movie still playing, showing a denouement neither of them would see.

_A blue sedan drove by, and he looked intently at the face of the driver, trying to see if he could recognize her. The face looked familiar, but he couldn't be sure for the sunglasses the woman had on. He thought he caught her head turning towards him in recognition as she drove by, but he figured he was just imagining things. _

_The sun was setting, but the unusually warm weather refused to relent. Shocks of heat bore down on the small town, and the humidity moistened bodies and clothing. People sought refuge in their climate-controlled cars or air-conditioned homes, and if neither were available, a scoop of ice cream served as a viable alternative, especially for the children. He didn't have any of these options, though. _

_A car full of teen girls, who would be juniors by the time the next school year rolled around, came running down the street, the top of the convertible pulled down. He turned around and watched them approach, having heard the engine running, but above that, the loud rock song blasting from the speakers. A few of them called out to him, though not by name. He dimly recognized a few of the faces, but couldn't place a name to any of them, either. One girl, a tall blonde one sitting on top of the back seat, wolf-whistled at him. He looked down and remembered he had taken off his long-sleeved shirt he had on, leaving him with a tank top, exposing his biceps. He looked back up as the car sped off, the blonde girl in the backseat looking over her shoulder at him, wiggling her fingers goodbye. He blushed slightly, then shook his head once they were out of sight, remembering what he had walked all this distance to do._

Hands eagerly unfastened shirt buttons. A finger pressed flush against a set of lips to silence the voice behind them.

"Let me just... look at you... and remember how you look right now..."

Hands gripped a set of hips firmly and pushed them down onto the bed.

Shoes were carelessly kicked off. A shirt was eagerly pulled off and hastily tossed aside, accompanied by excited giggling.

_He stood and looked longingly at his old house. An unfamiliar car sat in the driveway. He could make out the jolly, freckled face of a young girl of no more than seven years old with vibrant red hair looking out the living room window. She waved at him. He grinned and waved back. She smiled, revealing her missing front left tooth._

"Hmm... I love you...."

"I love you too..."

_He slowly turned and headed down the street once the little girl left the window. He wondered if he was even doing the right thing at this point. The familiarity with the surroundings was suddenly incredibly uncomfortable._

_He shook his head and pressed on. Better to know for sure than spend a lifetime wondering "what if..."_

They slept in each other's arms on the bed, on top of the blankets, which were slightly askew. The blacklight on the dresser by the door flooded the room with a purple hue, causing various objects and clothes to glow under the ultraviolet light. The stillness in the room seemed to ignore the noises of the surroundings: the winds howling against the siding of the house, the cars driving by with their engines humming loudly. Their skin was damp, partially from sweat, partially from the humid summer air that hung like a coastal fog on a dark morning.

_He stood on the sidewalk, at the beginning of the walkway leading to the door. He bit his lip, nervous about what would answer on the other side. Not only was he curious about who would answer the door, but he wasn't sure it would be prudent to knock on the door at such a late hour in the first place. Tomorrow would be a more opportune time, after all: they would at least have the luxury of more time to deal with, no matter who opened the door, or how much that person may have changed._

The bedroom, along with everything in it, seemed separate from its surroundings. Occasionally a particularly strong gust of wind would rattle windows behind drawn blinds, but they slept completely undisturbed. The night was warm, even for a Californian summer, but any time the heat almost woke one of them up, the air conditioning would turn on again, gentling their heated bodies with soft, soothing waves.

_He shook his head and turned away, walking northbound down the sidewalk. He had a new destination in mind._

The two sleepers passed the night serenely in each other's arms, oblivious to the world outside the bedroom window, oblivious to the reality that surrounded both of them, oblivious to the turmoil that daily life would inevitably bring once the alarm went off the next morning, content to just be there, with each other.


	2. Snow

Phil took a deep breath as he strolled down the concrete walkway, trying to boost his confidence in himself. "You've got this. Everything's gonna be alright. You'll see." He lifted the brass knocker and clacked it against the metal base on the door.

A familiar smiling face greeted him from the other side of the door with exuberance. "Phil! Is that you, Pumpkinhead?"

He couldn't help but grin at Mrs. Teslow's jovial greeting and culinary nicknaming. "Yeah, it's me.... I don't suppose Keely's around, is she?"

"Oh, she'll be back later this afternoon," Mandy explained hurriedly. "How've you been? How's Montana? What brings you down here?"

"Well I– It's been–" Phil cleared his throat, trying to keep up with her questions. "I just.... I just wanted to come back and see how everyone was doing," he slowly explained. "What time did you say she'd be back?"

"How long has it been, a year? Funny... seems like you just left.... and then sometimes it feels like it's been an eternity...."

"What do you mean by—"

"But, now's not the time to talk about things like that! Do you want to come in?"

"Well I was hoping–.... alright, I guess I could...." Phil slowly trailed off and stepped inside as Mrs. Teslow stepped to the side to let him in.

"So did your family come down too, or just you?"

"Huh? Oh, just me.... Yeah, Dad, um, had work, and Mom, uh....didn't want to leave Pim behind with him. How's everything been here? How are you all doing?"

Mandy paused for a minute to think of how to answer the question. "Well, that's kind of a long story...." After a brief moment of thought, she added, "I'm sure Keely will explain everything to you."

He slowly nodded. He hadn't expected her to have been too well after his leaving in any case. "But like, right now, things are generally good, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah, she and–... She's very excited for summer."

"I can imagine," Phil said, thinking back to the days of being stuck in school for six hours a day. After a year away from it, the thought that existed, and that he was in it for years, seemed almost unbelievable to him.

"Yeah, it's been.... quite a year..."

Phil frowned, knowing he was probably mostly to blame for that. "Where's she going to college?"

"Oh, she's going to an art academy in San Francisco..."

"Really? Not journalism school?"

She shook her head. "No, she really got into photography this last year... I just hope it's what she really wants."

He slowly nodded. It was only reasonable that some things had changed in his absence.

"She really seems to have a passion for it, which was a welcome change after...." She nervously laughed as she looked up at him. "Well, that's a different story though. But she seems like she's been having a really good couple of months lately!"

"That's good to hear," he grinned. "I feel like I've missed so much.... but a lot of stuff feels so familiar... it's nice...."

As if to refute his point about everything feeling so familiar, heavy footfalls came down the stairs. He glanced over to see a pair of black platform boots heading down, above which was a pair of skinny, torn charcoal jeans, above which was a black Rise Against shirt layered over a white long-sleeved shirt. As she looked over and saw him, she froze on the bottom step.

Keely's younger sister's facial expression upon seeing him in the living room only accentuated how much she had changed since he last saw her. Adorning her sneering lip was a thick ring. Piercing through her raised eyebrow was a pair of barbells. Another ring adorned her nose, and several others riddled her ears. Despite the airport security disaster that was her face, even more distracting was her two-toned hair; platinum blonde on the left side, jet-black on the right. She eventually stepped off the staircase and stood by the door, sizing him up. He fidgeted nervously.

She laughed to herself, shook her head, and grabbed the doorknob. "I'm going out with Ellie and Jason... I'll be back at like.... eight, probably."

"Okay, be safe," Mandy called out.

Phil blinked a few times as the door shut. "Then again, maybe more has changed than I thought..." He took a minute to reflect on that thought and let out a defeated sigh. "I don't suppose....." He shook his head and rephrased his question. "Is Keely .... in a relationship?"

Mandy looked at Phil for a beat, then, even though she knew that he knew the answer, slowly nodded. "Yeah, hon..."

"Right, right.... well. I'll probably be back later. I'm sure there are other people around here I should say hello to...." He headed for the door and slowly reached for the knob.

"Okay.... good to hear from you again, Phil!"

"Yeah, nice to see that everything's.... going well..." He smiled and said a quick goodbye before exiting the house and running a hand down over his face.

He walked down the sidewalk and tried to remember where Via lived.

* * *

**Probably should've mentioned something about this story before, but you've probably picked up on it already anyway. I know, it goes against everything I've ever believed in.**


	3. Love Like Winter

Keely sighed as she sat at the table across from Via, smoothing out her yellow skirt. "So. What do you want to do today?"

"Good question..." Via glanced over her shoulder and looked out the back window. "It's a lovely day out, isn't it?"

"Beautiful," Keely agreed. Via turned around and saw Keely giving her a toothy smile.

"Oh, stop it," she laughed.

"What? I didn't do anything!"

"You know what you did. I mean _hon_estly..."

"And so what if I _was _looking at you when I said that?"

"At least you have the intestinal fortitude to admit it."

"Your cheeks turn the most amazing shade of red when you get flustered, Vee. It's adorable."

"Turning up the charm, are we now? Oh, fathers, lock up your daughters!" she announced to the empty room.

Keely giggled. "But yer daddy ain't home, innee?"

"Mmmm, just what are you getting at, Miss Teslow?"

"Yeah, nobody tells you what to do, huh Via? You're a _bad_ girl, aren'tcha?"

Via raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Hmm, looks like there's going to be some fog on the shore tonight, boatswain...."

Keely grinned and slowly stood up, walking slowly towards the brunette sitting across from her.

"Oh my, my, my…" A small chuckle escaped her mouth as the blonde paused.

The door opened, and Keely laughed and sat back down. "Oh, hey Mrs. Blackburn..." She greeted the woman with a small wave and a grin.

"Hello you two," the brown-haired woman greeted as she brought in a few paper bags and set them on the counter. "Surprised to see you're both still here. Not going to the pictures today?"

"Mm, not until tomorrow," Via explained as Keely grinned at the woman's vocabulary. "Do you need any help with that?"

"Oh, it's fine, this is all there is. How's your mum, Keely?"

"She's doing alright. She's actually closing a deal on the place just down the block from here."

"Is that so? The two-story on the corner?"

"Mmhmm. I guess it's a young couple and their young daughter, she's like five or something."

"Well that's nice," Mrs. Blackburn said as she put some produce into the fridge.

"Ooh, I almost forgot," Keely gasped, turning to Via. "Suzi wanted to meet up with us at Pete's Pita Pit this afternoon."

Via pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows. "....right now?"

"In like.... half an hour?" She bit her lip and raised her shoulders slightly.

"...okay." Via slowly stood up, not terribly enthused about having her plans changed for someone she could only consider an acquaintance at best. Still, she reckoned it didn't matter much, as it was Keely's friend after all. The two headed for the stairway.

Via paused as the doorbell rang. She looked up at Keely and told her to continue up to her room while she answered the door. Keely nodded and ascended the stairs to head to Via's room.

- - -

Strangely enough, Phil noticed he felt more comfortable walking up the unfamiliar path to the Blackburn household than he did walking along the neat walkway to Keely's house. He stepped onto the front porch and fidgeted slightly as he pressed the doorbell. He heard the faint ring from within the two-story dwelling.

A familiar face opened the door, and the young woman's cheeks blanched of color as she recognized his face. He opened his mouth to greet her, but she beat him to it.

"You." The cold accusatory tone of her voice caught him off guard. She stepped forward and shut the door behind her, leaving the two of them alone on the porch.

He awkwardly started off with, "Hey, Via! It's... really good to see you again..."

"_You_," she spat, more emphatically this time.

"Yeah, it's... it's me... um, I heard that Keely would probably be here, so..."

She let out a laugh, a humorless one. "YOU! You sad, smarmy _bast_ard!"

Phil's polite grin fell off of his face. "Via? Are you... okay?"

She ignored the question. "Who in the _hell_ do you think you are?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think you can just leave for a year without so much as saying a word to her, then waltz back in as if nothing happened? What kind of thought process goes on in your mind that makes you think that could _poss_ibly be a good idea?!"

Phil stammered as he looked for an answer. He hadn't actually thought that far ahead, so he reached for an excuse that wasn't entirely a lie. "Okay, yeah… I'd like to explain about that, if I could just talk to her again…"

Via folded her arms over her chest and nodded repeatedly, offering him a sarcastic grin. "Is that so? That's all you wanted to do, eh?"

"Well, I—"

"Stuff it. You left her here without so much as one at_tempt_ to get in touch with her—"

"Which I could ex_plain_ if you'd—!"

"Oh, please, where could you have _poss_ibly gone to the point where you were completely unable to contact her? Tibet? Greenland?"

"I couldn't _talk _to her because…" Phil lowered his head and let the thought die before it came out of his throat. "Look, the fact is, that doesn't matter. I just.... I just want to see her. Just to talk to her. I don't get why you're making such a big deal out of this!"

"You don't--? ....You don't know..." she repeated, mostly to herself. Phil relaxed a little at the softening tone of her voice. "Who else have you talked to since you've been here?" she asked urgently.

"Uh, uh, just her mom… and Owen and his family."

"And... Owen didn't tell you...."

"Tell me what?"

"Well that's interesting..."

"What's interesting? What's going on?"

"You really don't know," she muttered skeptically. He shrugged, and she scoffed. "I... I honestly can't believe he didn't tell you. Very unlike him, really…" She muttered under her breath to herself for a while as Phil looked on curiously.

"…Tell me _what_?" Phil asked after a while.

She looked up at him, almost as if she'd forgotten he was there, then sighed as she tried to decide on a phrasing. "Keely is... in a relationship," she finished, nodding with satisfaction at her phrasing.

He sighed. "I know, her mom told me. So... who's the lucky guy, then?"

"So heteronormative," she clucked, shaking her head.

"Wh-..." Phil perked his head up slightly as he made the connection. "Wait… so…"

The corner of Via's left eyebrow slowly raised half an inch as the rest of her face remained completely stationary.

"You?"

Her right eyebrow rose slightly to parallel the left.

"…huh."

"Does that answer all your questions?"

He slowly shook his head. "It... it really _rais_es more questions than it answers."

"Look. All I know is that she's happy now. And I don't want you to come riding in on your steed and whisk her away on some empty promises and a toothy grin."

"It's not _like_ that—"

"I very much love that girl, and if you-… if you hurt her again…" She shook her head and left the end of that sentence to Phil's imagination. "Just stay away, Phil."

He tried to protest, but she turned on her heel, opened the door, and glided inside, kicking it shut behind her.

When Via reached her bedroom, Keely was sitting on the bed, looking out the window, one hand weakly pressed to the glass. "Who was that?" she asked, trying to get a look at the visitor's face.

"Nobody," Via airily explained, dashing over and pulling Keely away from the window.

"Vee?"

Via stopped, her hands on Keely's shoulders.

"Who was it?"

She stared back into Keely's eyes before slowly shaking her head. "It's not important."

Keely pressed her lips together and looked down. "If you say so," she mumbled.

A pang of guilt washed over her as she dropped one hand to her side and rubbed her forehead with the other. "It..." She sighed. "It was him."

Keely slowly turned her eyes up to look into Via's. "You.... No...."

"I couldn't believe it either..." She stared distantly ahead, putting her other hand on her hip.

"He didn't come back..." She shook her head in a firm state of denial.

"I told him. I said to him that he can't just.... come back like that and–... The world doesn't work that way. He can't leave you for a year and expect you to forgive him, just like that! It's certifiably insane!"

"Oh, God, he did come back...."

"I just... I didn't want him to..."

"To steal me?"

Via seemed taken aback by this suggestion. "_Steal_ you? You're not a piece of property, Keely. No, I didn't want him to come back and put you through something like that.... the way he left you, it just... there were a lot of loose ends that never got tied up, and... I didn't want to open... old wounds..." Via's eyes fell poignantly on Keely's right arm. She self-consciously pulled her rolled-up sleeve back down to her wrist, then tugged the other one down to match it. "Look. It's not that I'm _not_ afraid he'd try to win you back, because I am. But you're not just a prize to me, Keely, you're so much more than that. I just.... I was thinking about _you_ when I told him to go... you wouldn't want him to just try and carry you off like some sort of fairy tale princess, would you? After not even hearing from him for a year? I mean, the man made _no_ attempts, Keely!"

She sighed and leaned back on the mattress, shaking her head in response to the question.

"I mean, it's typical, really: typical egotism. It's like he just thinks that your entire world froze in time once he left, and now that he's back, it started back up again. I don't think it once occurred to him that you had a life beyond him, a life once he left you without another word..."

Keely slowly nodded, noting that the lack of communication wasn't exactly all Phil's fault. "...you're right."

She looked up as Via fell uncomfortably silent.

"What's up?"

"...that pause..."

"I didn't pause."

"Yes you did."

Keely rolled her eyes. "That's because it's _comp_licated, Vee!" she explained, adding further emphasis by slapping the back of her right hand into the palm of her left. "He was the first boy I ever loved... the first one always stays with you...."

Via looked down at Keely, waiting for her to continue.

"But I'm happy where I am right now. With you. And you're just such an amazing person, Via, and... and I just love you." She laughed softly and raised her hands as if to say, _there it is_.

She looked down at Keely for a few seconds before a smile spread across her face, followed closely by a small chuckle. "I love you too," she whispered back.

Keely beckoned Via towards her and pulled her down so she was sitting sideways on her lap. Via wrapped her arms around Keely and hugged her, their cheeks gently pressing against each other. Keely smiled as she squeezed her back, her eyes staring off, distantly.

* * *

**Would that I could explain the sudden 50-day absence… eh. I'll bore you some other time, maybe.**


	4. The Most of It

Suzi glanced up from her phone long enough to see Keely grinning and waving as she approached the table. "It's ab-... about time," she said, brushing her deep red hair out of her face.

"Yeah, sorry, about that... Princess Via here took forever to get ready."

Suzi giggled and put a hand to her mouth. Via sighed and rolled her eyes at Keely.

"N-nice to see you, too, Via," Suzi added upon seeing Via's expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind... it's good to see you as well. How've you been?"

Suzi shrugged one shoulder and tilted her head towards it. "Can't complain," she said with a small smile. "What's b-b-... b-bugging you?"

"Oh, nothing important." Via dismissed the disturbance with a wave of her hand.

Suzi nodded. Keely bit her bottom lip as she looked between the two of them. "Sssssssssooooo!"

Suzi brushed a piece of lint off her black and white striped shirt. Via broke the awkward silence. "So what's happening?"

"Mm, j-just waiting for J-J-J...Jacqui," Suzi replied, glancing around and tracing the rim of her cup of iced tea with her finger.

"Right," Via said, nodding in recognition. She liked Jacqui. She was a lot more like her than Suzi was.

"Where is she?" Keely said, taking an empty chair from an adjacent table and scooting it behind Via.

"Caught in– ...traffic. I guess there was an accident..." Suzi explained as Via sat down, giving Keely a small smile.

"An accident? Was it bad? Is everyone okay?" Keely sat down and gave her friend an intense look, trying to read her expression, as if she couldn't even wait to hear an answer.

Suzi nodded. "Yeah it was just a little col- collision in an intersection is all."

Keely nodded and leaned back in her chair. "Well that's a relief."

"I'm going to get something to drink," Via announced, motioning inside the café. "Would you like anything?"

Keely raised an eyebrow at her.

Via smirked. "Strawberry smoothie. I know," she said, standing up. "Don't worry about it," she added as she headed inside. Keely stopped fishing for money in her purse and slowly set it down in her lap.

"So. How are you doing?" Suzi smirked at Keely before taking a sip from her cup.

"Oh, I'm fine," Keely replied. "Nice day, ya know? Summer... lovin it."

"Not _you_, you g-goofball. You two. You and– ...Vvvvia."

Keely leaned her head back and smirked, looking down her nose at the redhead. "Ohhhh, so that's how it is..."

"J-just askin'," she said with a shrug.

"Ah, we're fine. Wonderful, really."

"_Won_derful," she repeated.

"...yep!..." Keely looked at Suzi uncertainly.

"Whenever someone says they're wonderful... they're usually hiding something."

"What makes you say that?"

Suzi took a slow drink of her tea and slowly set it down. "Experience."

Keely chewed on the inside of her bottom lip as Via came back outside, followed by a girl about Keely's height with two-toned hair. Silvery-blonde on top, with dark-brown hair underneath.

"Look who I ran into," Via said, holding out Keely's smoothie, which she eagerly took.

"Jacq-Jacq!" Suzi exclaimed. "'b-b-bout time you got here!"

Jacqui smirked. "Yeah, sorry I kept you gals waiting... hope I didn't take too long!"

"Oh, it's okay," Keely said. "Suz isn't _that _annoying. Ow!" She reached down to her shin and rubbed the point of impact.

"So what do you want to do?" Via asked, swirling her iced lemonade with a straw.

Keely slowly looked up and smiled at her. "I was hoping maybe we could see _Blood Moon_...?"

"I thought you wanted to see that tomorrow," Via said, before taking a sip of her lemonade.

"I knowwwww but I can't wait. Can we just see it today? Pleeeeeeease?"

Via groaned and looked over at Jacqui, who had a similar look of distaste on her face.

"You don't like that idea?"

Via shook her head. "Keely, it's a disgrace to cinema."

"It is so _no_t a disgrace to cinema! You don't know what you're talking about." Keely raised her eyebrows at Via as she sipped her smoothie.

"It's bilge! It's a wonder how they got a movie deal out of that book! You can't throw a bunch of adjectives around and call it good writing!"

"Plus Beth is just a shell of a character. She has no personality, so anybody can put themselves in her sorry shoes," Jacqui added, backing Via.

"Because the author wrote it so she could live out her own perverted fantasies. That's why she doesn't ever describe her, because she _is_ Beth.."

"And Vincent is the exact opposite. Way too charismatic. Way too..."

"Perfect?" Keely asked.

"That's another thing," Via added. "If you think his possessive abuse is 'perfect', I think we've got to have a serious discussion." Keely frowned.

"And the plot goes nowhere! Like seriously, when will somebody think of an original conflict? Remember _Underworld_? Vampires and werewolves. And that was way better than this piece of—"

"Well then you two d-don't have to s-s-s... see it if you don't want to."

"Oh, Suz, you don't get it, do you?" Jacqui asked her, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. "If you and Keely go and see this movie... then the terrorists have truly won."

Suzi shook her head. "Oh, stop."

Jacqui sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Okay, fine. But in five years, when you look back and realize how right I was, I expect an apology."

"They just don't get it," Keely reassured Suzi in an undertone.

"I think we're the ones who see it perfectly clearly," Via said, examining her fingernails.

Keely stood up and walked over to Via. "Seems to me... that telling me not to see this movie is just as controlling as you're claiming Vincent is..."

"Ooooooh!" Suzi cheered, watching Via's expression falter.

"I'm not saying you can't see it, I'm saying you _should_n't see it."

"But I _can_ see it though."

Via raised her hands in defeat. "You've got me."

Keely clapped her hands. "I knew you'd do the right thing." Via smirked and shook her head.

"So w-what are you two gonna do in the meantime?"

"I'm sure they've got some decent movies playing... we'll find something."

"Okay." Keely nodded. "Well. We should go over to the theater then..."

"Yeah," Suzi added, checking her iPhone. "St-starts in like t-t-... twenty m-minutes..."

"You're sure this is what you want, Keely?" Via asked, a small smile playing across her face.

Keely smirked and nodded. "Yeah. You can't talk me out of it."

She sighed. "Alright. Let's go then."


	5. Shh…

"What do we got playin today," Owen muttered to himself, looking at the list of movies above the cashier's head. "Ah, _The Human Caterpillar_. Ya wanna—"

"Please. No," Phil said, raising a hand to quell the thought immediately.

"Alright. Help me out here."

"I dunno. Kinda hard to... think about that right now."

"Ah, come on, man," Owen said, glancing over at Phil. "Still thinking about her?"

"I just... it's tough, Owen. You just don't understand."

"I can't believe you didn't make any lady friends back east."

"It's not that, it's just... it's not the same. We had something, we really did."

"I dunno how you do it, man."

"...Do what?"

"I mean, you came back for her? You must be really serious about this..."

"You don't even know the half of it. What I don't get is why you didn't tell me she was, ahh... in_volv_ed."

Owen shrugged. "The thought didn't even occur to me."

Phil rolled his eyes. "I _know_ that's not true."

"Hahahaaaaaa... alright, you got me. I dunno, you probably wouldn't have believed me if I told you..."

He rubbed his chin and slowly nodded, realizing Owen was probably right.

"Sometimes you just gotta let go, Phil."

"...it's not that easy for me. I knew her a long time."

"What, like, two years?"

"That's pretty long!" Phil defended.

"Okay, okay. Hey, what about _Razor's Edge_?"

"Huh?"

Owen pointed to the listings. "Starts in twenty minutes."

"Oh. Okay, yeah, sounds good," Phil said, distracted by the sudden change of subject.

* * *

"Why do you buy this? You know they jack up the prices by like, four hundred percent, right?"

"I'm hungry!" Owen defended.

"You could've stopped at a restaurant or something, though... saved some money, maybe?"

"Owen doesn't tend to think with his head and his stomach at the same time," a female voice from behind Phil piped up. He turned around and saw a young woman of around 20, about three inches taller than him with brown eyes, two-toned hair, a slender, pointed nose, and a big grin plastered on her face.

"Jacqui! What's up?" Owen greeted her, brushing past Phil and giving her a hug, which she returned. Phil raised his eyebrows.

"Not much," she answered. "Just seein' a movie with some friends. Well, _a_ friend, because my other two friends are seeing that lousy vampire movie... so we're gonna see _The Metamorphosis_..."

"Oh, yeah. Who are you seeing it with?"

"Via." Phil bit the inside of his lip at the mention of her name. "I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever met your friend... I'm Jacqui," she said, acknowledging Phil directly for the first time.

"...ahh, Phil," he said, after a pause, giving her a small wave. She smiled and nodded at him.

"Well that's cool," Owen said, after a brief pause. Yeah, we were gonna see _Razor's Edge_ here in a minute..."

"Ooh, yeah, we saw that last week... otherwise we'd probably see it with you!" She let out a laugh, while Phil sighed in relief.

"Ah, yeah. That's alright, some other time..."

"But hey, I mean, if you're not doing anything after, maybe we could all hang out or something. You can come too, if ya want, Phil."

Phil opened his mouth, about to make an excuse in order to avoid having to see Via again, but Owen was, as usual, able to speak his mind first. "Yeah, sure, that'd be cool... ahhh, yyyyeah, we can just like, meet out here afterwards or whatever."

"Alright, sounds good! I guess I'll see you both later! Looks like you're up, Owen," she said, pointing to the cashier at the snack bar.

"Oh, alright. See ya!" Phil followed Owen up to the snack bar and waited as he ordered a large soda, a bag of popcorn, and a box of Junior Mints.

"You care to explain what that was?"

"What, you're busy after this?"

"No, I mean– well, we'll get to that later, but... it's just that I've never seen a girl voluntarily hug you before."

"Oh. Well, I mean, me and Jacq go way back."

"Ex-girlfriend?"

"Nope. Just an old friend."

"Huh."

"What's up?"

"Well... you're never _just friends_ with any girl."

Owen shrugged. "Never say never."

"This coming from the guy who told me to just let Keely go."

"I'm a complicated man," Owen said, just before shoveling a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Clearly."

"So are you in to hang out after the movie?"

Phil sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. I'll have to try and avoid eye contact with Via so I don't turn into stone."

"Phoooo, yeah. Well, at least you'll have backup this time, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. I dunno, we'll see. We'll see how I'm feeling after the movie's over."

"Right on. Besides, who knows, maybe you'll hit it off with Jacqui or something."

"Well, the way she was talking to you, I guess anything's possible with her."

"There's the spirit," Owen said, completely missing the jab.


	6. …Just Go With It

"So," Keely said, her arms folded over her chest as Via and Jacqui walked out of the theater. "How'd you like your _mov_ie?"

"Oh, it was brilliant," Via replied, with a sly smile on her face.

"It was kind of a rip-off, though," Jacqui noted.

"How's that?" Suzi asked, looking up from her phone to join in the conversation.

"I had to pay for a full seat, but I only used the edge of it."

Via laughed to herself while a smile slowly spread across Suzi's face. Keely blinked slowly, then shrugged. "Well, as long as everyone had a good time."

"I guess if you somehow enjoyed that film you saw, then yes, everyone had a smashing time."

"Oh, and ahh... you two aren't doing anything right now, are you?" Jacqui asked. Suzi and Keely shook their heads. "Okay good cause I kind of invited these two guys to hang out with us later."

Via let out a loud sigh. Jacqui had discussed the run-in with Phil and Owen as soon as she got back to the theater.

"Who?" Suzi asked, after a beat.

"Owen – you know Owen – and this guy Phil."

Keely opened her mouth slowly, and was about to ask Jacqui which Phil she was talking about, but Via caught her eye first, and she instantly knew what that meant. "Um... I have to, um... I'll be back." With that, she spun on her heel and did her best to walk, and not to run, to the bathroom.

"I'll, er, go see if she's okay," Via said, before pursuing her.

"W-w-what's going on there?" Suzi asked, watching the two walk away. Jacqui shrugged.

"Keely?" Via softly asked as she stepped onto the linoleum floor.

"She had no right to _do_ that!" the blonde stated emphatically as she leaned over the sink, her curly hair hanging down and obstructing her face.

"Well, I'm not sure she realized what she was doing, but you're right... she should've asked first..." She slowly walked up next to her and gently put her hand on Keely's back.

"I don't think I'm ready for this, Vee... I don't think I can do this..."

"You don't have to. We can go back home right now."

She sighed and brushed her hair out of her face to look at herself in the mirror. "But then he'll just keep trying to get in touch with me... he's not gonna stop unless I tell him to..."

Via pursed her lips, then took the other side. "Okay, well, then if you talk to him about it now, you can set the record straight."

"But _then_ if I agree to see him, he'll think I _want_ him back!"

Via opened her mouth to say something, but only managed to push out a soft sigh as she scratched at the corner of her eye.

"What should I do?" she asked, turning away from the mirror and looking right at Via.

Via raised one hand, in a desperate search for the right words to say, before letting it drop uselessly at her side. "I can't tell you that..."

A few seconds of unbroken, silent eye contact followed before Keely piped up again. "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"Wh- no, why would I be mad at you?"

She shrugged. "Just... I don't know. this whole thing is kind of hard to deal with right now..."

"That's understandable."

"But... I can't just run away from it. I've got to face this head on... whether I like it or not..."

"Are you sure you're ready for that?"

Keely bit her lip. "No... but... I'm not sure I have much of a choice in the matter."

Via smiled softly. "Such a strong girl."

"Oh stoppit..."

* * *

"You... d-d-_do_ realize we're going to that Hawaiian restaurant later, right?" Suzi asked as Owen took a bite of the churro he purchased at the snack bar while waiting for Via and Keely to come back. They had met up with the two girls moments after the other two excused themselves.

"Owen prefers to eat several dozen small meals throughout the day," Phil explained.

"Da Vinci did the same thing," Owen said, brushing some sugar off his left hand.

"Uhh... Da Vinci took small _naps_ every few hours..." Jacqui corrected. "He didn't gorge himself on fried-dough pastry-based breakfast foods throughout the day."

"I don't see any problem with it," Owen said, after finishing off the last bite.

"Nah, I'm sure it's all healthy," Phil said sarcastically. Owen thanked him for backing him up.

"Hey, are you okay?" Suzi asked as Keely and Via walked back up to the group. Phil did his best to avoid eye contact with Via as he chanced a short glance over at Keely. Same curly blonde hair. Same lively green eyes. Same vibrant smile. Same three-inch height advantage.

"Uhhh... yyyyeah!" Keely offered a smile as she glanced back at Phil, locking eyes with him for a brief moment. His hair was a bit longer than she was used to... but it had been so long since she'd last seen him, it was hard to tell if she was just imagining that. She tried not to reflect too much on it. She wasn't trying to get into the past. "Hey Owen, Phil," she greeted them both as casually as she could. They replied with a unified "Hey".

"Y-you two know each other?" Suzi asked, completely oblivious of their history.

"Ahhh... yyyeah, sort of," Keely answered, looking from Phil to Suzi as she bit the inside of her bottom lip. She shrugged and smirked. Suzi decided not to press the issue.

Phil slowly became aware of the fact that Jacqui was giving him an intense glare that bordered on disgust. After a few seconds, he made eye contact with her. She raised her head slowly, softening her stare, although now she was looking down her nose at him. He glanced over at Via, hoping for a hint as to why her friend suddenly seemed so hostile towards him, but she was busy asking what everyone wanted to do. Suzi eagerly suggested the mall, which Keely seconded immediately.

"You guys won't m-m-mind, right?" Suzi asked, turning to Owen and Phil.

"If that's what the ladies want..." Owen started ominously, giving Via a lopsided smirk. She shot back a disgusted grimace.

"Phil?"

"Hmm? Ah, sure. It's whatever." He glanced over at Via, sure she'd be giving him a look like she gave Owen, but her expression seemed normal. Almost friendly, but that might have been a little generous, he figured.

He thought he might get through the day without incident until Via asked him aside to talk to him.


	7. Brand Me a Fool

Phil was uncomfortable. Via stood in front of him, her arms folded over her chest, the fingers on her right hand drumming on her left bicep. She was giving him an inquisitive look, her mouth slightly open, her tongue running between the top and bottom rows of ivory teeth.

"You're not _fol_lowing us, are you?" she asked softly, after considering him for a while.

Phil raised his hands in defense. "We got here, and she came out and invited us. I didn't even know you two were here."

"Hmm." Via pursed her lips, glanced and the floor, then back up at him. "Don't do anything stupid, Phil," she advised him. She made a move to walk away, but Phil opened his mouth.

"Stupid?"

"You can't honestly expect this to work, can you? Leave her the way you did, then waltz back into her life a year later, expecting everything to be okay? That's not how this _works_, Phil."

"No, you don't understand why-"

"I understand it. She told me all about it."

Phil's eyes widened. He glanced to the side, waiting for the feeling in the pit of his stomach to subside. "All about it?" he asked, deciding not to overreact to what she just said.

"How it was your father's choice. How he forbid you from contacting her because he knew you two wouldn't be able to work it out." Phil let out a small sigh of relief. "There's a _reason_ he didn't let you, Phil. He was right! It never would've worked!"

"There's no way to know that..."

"She needs someone who can be there for her. Someone who can be by her side when she needs it. You wouldn't have been able to do that for her."

He rubbed his forehead and heaved a sigh. "Look... I'm not gonna lie to you, Via... I still care for her, even after all this time. I mean, I guess that's obvious, since I came all the way back out here, but she's..." He slowly trailed off, not really wanting to get into this kind of discussion with her.

She shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger before turning back towards him. "Do you _real_ly care for her?"

"Wh-... of course I do..." Phil was slightly offended that she would have the nerve to ask him such a question. "What are you insinuating?"

"If you really cared for her... you'd leave it well alone. You're doing this for your own happiness, not hers."

"You're saying she wouldn't be happy with me?"

"I'm _say_ing that she's happy the way things are, and she doesn't need _you_ coming in and turning everything upside-down."

Phil's reply was cut off before it could escape his mouth as Keely walked up beside the two of them. "Uh, hey, we're, um, ready to go..." She had been watching the conversation while talking with Jacqui, Suzi, and Owen, and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as she saw the two of them tensing up.

"Right, of course," Via said, nodding distractedly. Phil watched as Keely grabbed Via by the wrist and eagerly pulled her along. Via threw one last warning glance over her shoulder in his direction.

"Y...you comin'?" a chipper voice called out.

Phil shook his head and blinked, snapping himself out of his reverie. He jogged to catch up with Suzi: the others had already exited the building and started walking towards the mall down the street.

"What did she wanna ...t-talk to you about?"

He sighed. "Oh, it's just... I used to go out with Kee-"

"No shit?"

Phil paused and looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Well... sort of. It was complicated for a while, and we weren't a couple for... that long..." He frowned as it all came flooding back to him. "Guess the timing wasn't right, or something."

"Right... something like that..."

"And now Via's worried that I came back to... win Keely back or something..."

"And d-d...did you?"

Phil shrugged, looking for an answer. "I... I don't know. I didn't know what to expect, but... I don't know. I guess I just thought it'd be easier than this. Or at least _diff_erent."

"Have you gotten a ch-chance to t-t-t-talk to her?"

"Not really... mainly cause Via's always been around."

"Right..."

"But maybe she was right..."

"About what?"

Phil shook his head, then glanced over at her. "I can't believe I'm talking to you about this..."

"I'm probab-probably more help than Owen would be..." she offered with a reassuring smile.

He laughed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think you're right there... it's just... she said that I might be doing this for myself more than for Keely... maybe she's right... they seem happy... maybe this whole thing was a mistake..."

"Well... there's no way to know if it is unless you t-...talk to her about it, is there?"

"...I guess not..."

Neither of them said anything for a while. Phil felt more uncomfortable the longer the silence lasted. Suzi finally broke it after a minute by chuckling to herself as she looked down at her shoes, then at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Life kind of s-s-...sucks sometimes, doesn't it?" she asked, smirking lopsidedly.

Phil chuckled to himself, looking for an answer to the question, even though he was sure she meant it to be rhetorical.

Owen and Jacqui were waiting for Suzi and Phil to catch up to them. Once Phil was a few feet away, Owen asked, "Hey, man, what was up with Via chewing you out like that?"

"Wha?" Phil looked over at him, his train of thought derailed. "Oh, that. She just... I dunno. Didn't want me to do anything stupid.

"What, like, she wants you to stay away from her?"

He shrugged. "I guess that was the main gist of what she was saying, yeah."

"Huh!" A few seconds of silence came, but Phil could tell Owen was dying to add in an editorial. "...Well she's kind of a bitch, isn't she?"

Jacqui shot a glare at him. Suzi opened her mouth in surprise, with a hint of amusement playing across her face. "Owen, that's her _girl_friend, of course she's gonna be protective!" the redhead pointed out.

"Besides," Jacqui added, giving him a look of contempt mixed with disappointment, "behind every bitch is a guy who made her that way."

Owen scratched the back of his head, standing still on the sidewalk and watching as Jacqui shook her head and went ahead without him. Suzi gave him a disappointed look of her own before breaking off in a trot to catch up to Jacqui.

"Was I wrong?" Owen asked, looking over at Phil.

"Maybe just... keep the opinions to yourself from now on..."

"Thought girls were supposed to like it when guys were open with them..."

Phil slowly nodded in approval. "Open. Yeah. Yeah, they like that. Right? Yeah, they like that!..."

"That's... what I was asking you..."

"Just gotta be open with her. Open and honest." Phil started off down the sidewalk to catch up with the others.

"...You're welcome?"


End file.
